Internet Data

The news lately has been filled with stories about the United States Government taking their citizen’s Internet and phone data to gather information on them. I even found a movie trailer for a documentary on this exact problem.

 

Although I understand the benefits the government and companies can gain by knowing this information about its populace, I think that gathering their data without asking permission is wrong and an invasion of privacy. I also think that because these technologies are relatively new, there isn’t a lot of laws and restrictions guarding the interests of the users. Before regulations can catch up, the government is taking advantage of it and using this information to look after their own interests instead of the popular interests of their nation. Another problem I had was that they were using this information to stop things like protests, which prevents their citizens from their right to have freedom of assembly.

I saw recently that the government of France is implementing laws on companies gathering Internet information and demanding these companies, like Google, ask permission before taking any of their user’s data. I think this is a step in the right direction because I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t have a problem with it if they knew what the companies were taking and why. In the end, using technology today is inevitable, we even using it to create these blog posts, and because of this there needs to be serious deliberations on how to handle the use of the data it generates.  

Good Summer Read

For my ISU novel I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the same author as The Kite Runner. Like the book we read in class, A Thousand Splendid Suns is about life for civilians in Afghanistan as they continuously are oppressed by corrupted leaders and governments. If you liked The Kite Runner, you’ll defiantly enjoy this novel as it is similar but focuses more on a different way of life than in the previous book, as Hosseini changes up the viewpoint of the main character. In The Kite Runner the main character was a wealthy boy who moves to America when Afghanistan is invaded by Russia. The main character in A Thousand Splendid Suns is an underprivileged girl who stays in Afghanistan as they are bombarded by leadership changes, territory wars, drought and famine. This is interesting because throughout this course we have been trying to learn to look at situations with multiple perspectives. By reading both books I was able to see views from both sides of a lot of circumstances, like wealth and gender. If you want to learn more about the hardships going on in Afghanistan during the last 20 years and want a girl’s perspective on these issues, this novel is defiantly one you should read.

Should Shakespeare Still be Taught in High School English Classes?

When looking at if Shakespeare should still be taught in high school English classes I decided to make a list of what I think are the pros and cons of Shakespeare.

Cons

-It’s hard to understand what’s happening.

-It can be boring to read when you do not understand what’s happening.

Pros

-It teaches students how to problem solve. When it’s difficult or next to impossible to understand what’s happening in the Shakespearean plays we read in class, there are two options for you to do. One, you continue reading and never understand what the play is actually about. Or two, you problem solve and figure out a way to understand what you are confused about. While some people go with option one, most of us try option two and try make out a way to comprehend the words that confuse us. This can vary from looking at the side translation in the book, to researching the passage on the Internet. Either way, by making an effort to understand what’s happening, the student learns valuable problem solving skills.

-The story lines are timeless. While they’ve been rewritten and changed throughout the years, the plot lines of most Shakespearean plays have survived to be reminiscent in many more modern sources of entertainment. From the travesty of Twilight to the less modern Pride and the Prejudice, books and movies have been coping Shakespeare’s work for centuries.
-It’s jam packed with literary devices. Where most books contain metaphors and similes, the amount that Shakespeare crammed into his plays is astounding. Every passage contains them, some lines being made up of multiple devices, and while this contributes to the problem of understanding the meaning of the text, it also makes for material that’s easier to write passage analyses, and other forms of English assignments, about.
-The morals they teach are relatable to today. While most of us think that Shakespeare’s plays are irrelevant to today’s day and life, the morals that they teach are actually very applicable to the present. An example is the play Macbeth, where if you strip it down to the bare minimum, is about a man who is overly ambitious and whose plans backfire when he tries to get a higher position in life. This play demonstrates that we should enjoy our lives at any stage and not to be so ambitious that we give up everything we care about. Although the situations in the play are a little fantastic, the morals it teaches are very prevalent to anyone’s life.
-You understand more references. Because they been around forever, and because they’re so popular, references to the Shakespeare’s plays are in a lot of media. When you read the plays you are able to understand these references and connect them to the things you know and identify with.

From the pros and cons I listed, I obviously think Shakespeare should be taught in English classes. It can be hard and sometimes frustrating, but I think that the things the plays are able to teach us far outweigh any argument against them.

U.S. Sending Arms in to Syria: A Little too Familiar

Most of us have heard of the civil war occurring in Syria, which started March 15th, 2011. The country’s unrest, as well as the sounding areas, has been in headlines around the world. Recently the United States has announced that it is going to send arms in to Syria to help the Syrian rebels fight against the corrupted government. An article on The Star.com describes how, that although the Canadian government supports the U.S., they will not be sending arms in as well.

When I first heard the United States was sending arms in to Syria I had a terrible feeling of Déjà Vu. Hadn’t this exact situation happened before? Was it not the United States who supplied weapons to Afghanistan rebels in an attempt to regain peace? And didn’t that in turn create the last decade of war and turbulence between those two countries? Although I support Syria’s attempts to over throw their oppressive government, I think that if the United States sends in weapons, it could back fire against both them and the innocent Syrian civilians. While it seems unlikely, I hope Syria will be able to resolve their conflict in a non-violent way, because as their country stands right now, their residences are not going to be in a position to gain from further civil instability.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/06/16/canada_will_not_send_arms_to_syrian_rebels_asserts_harper_government.html

The Institution of Marriage- Forced Marriages of Under Age Girls

As I read my ISU novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, I learnt about the outdated practice of under age marriage forced on to girls in Afghanistan communities. I decided to research

this convention further and found this article on Google News.

http://digitaljournal.com/article/318723

It describes how, in the London Borough of Islington, girls as young as 9 years of age are being forced into marriages with sometimes middle aged men. It also says that although this practice is banned in the UK, parents of these young girls circumvent the law and conduct the ceremonies in Shariah courts attached to mosques.  It continues to say how these children are sometimes still attending primary school, while at home they are forced to do the duties of a wife. The article quotes Ahmed Saad, an Imam (or person of leadership) of the Finsbury Park Mosque, as he condemns the controversial practice saying “This is down to ignorance, and ignorant people who will use any excuse they can to do this to their children. It is the practice in their home countries and they don’t want to stop that here, so they will say it’s in the Koran, when it is not. According to Islam, it is entirely unacceptable.”

I think the practice of forced under age marriage or forced marriage all together is abominable and shouldn't be tolerated in any country, regardless of tradition. The girls in Islington and many other communities around the world are stripped of their human rights as their choice to decide their fate in marriage and life is taken away. These girls forced to marry men three times their age also lose their innocence as they are required to perform the duties of wives and mothers at a time they should be enjoying their right to be children. This article proves, like the article we read in class on the barbarity of boxing,  that unless the people supporting this institution in the Afghan community change their perspective on forcing under age girls to marry than nothing will ever change.

Memes

  http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3u70vd/

Vaulting Ambition

 

 

Ambition is the desire to successfully achieve a goal through determination. People who are ambitious tend to be hard working and willing to do almost anything to achieve what they want. Being ambitious usually helps the individual because it motivates them to get to a better position in life. Although, ambition can sometimes have a negative effect as well.

As people gain success in their life they tend to lose track of what is really important because their ambition blinds them from the consequences of their goal. For example wanting to gain a better position at work could cause a person to spend more time there than at home and strain their personal relationships. In the end the person could be higher on the workplace ladder but unhappy in their life with the people they care about.  

Ambition is also a personality trait that is never satisfied with what it has. People who are extremely ambitious tend to have multiple goals, and when reaching one start on another. This is good because it is ambitious people who progress society in all aspects of life.  But we should also sometimes be content with what we have and recognize when to stop and enjoy it.

I think people should have ambition because it is what motivates us to do things that help advance ourselves and sometimes society. I think that it helps people aspire to do great things for themselves and others and is what progresses civilizations into better ages. But I also think that ambition without thinking of consequences can sometimes be more harmful then beneficial.  

Is it time to scrap the Indian Act?

This photo depicts the deterioration of the Ahousaht reserve in British Colombia. It shows the poor living conditions that aboriginals live in throughout our country, and the amount of help that is needed just to get them to a level that would be acceptable. It also shows their need of government intervention, and how our current system of dealing with native problems is severely outdated.

The article that went along with this photo was a collection of quotes from various people throughout Canada that replied to the Nation Post about their thoughts on the Indian Act. Most of them believed that it actually restricted the rights of native people in Canada and thought that it should be abolished. Some thought the act needed to be changed to be more suitable for today’s values and needs. The article brought up many opinions on aboriginal life, like education, jobs, living conditions and government aid. Many people thought that the whole concept of natives living on reserves created a racial divide between Canadian citizens.

My thoughts on this topic tended to agree with most of the people in the article. I think that the way native people and the government are interacting is not working and should be changed. Obviously the way money is being spent on most reserves is not functioning properly. And the lack of education for native children is extremely disturbing for an abundant country like ours. I think that changing the Indian Act will not destroy the aboriginal culture because of the way Canada embraces other nations. Canada has a very high immigration rate and we are not the self-professed “melting pot” that the United States claims to be. We recognize the differences between ourselves and take the time to celebrate and encourage the aspects of our cultures that make us different, one example being Caribana (which is the festival in Toronto that celebrates the diverse cultures and traditions in the Caribbean).

This article made me think about what is happening all over Canada and how citizens of our country aren’t being treated the same way as others. It made me think of the alterations that needed to be done to laws that were made to protect those citizens. But above all it made me think of the fact that regular people are suffering through third world conditions in our first world country.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/10/29/todays-letters-is-it-time-to-scrap-the-indian-act/